Artist Saype creates two new ephemeral frescoes on Swiss hilltops

Two new murals by Saype in Villars-sur-Ollon (VD) Keystone-SDA

For the fifth year running, the Franco-Swiss artist Saype has taken to the hills above Villars-sur-Ollon. He has created two new giant, temporary frescoes, painted on the grass using biodegradable paint.

On arriving on July 8, Saype chose two sites within the Bretaye area, different from those of previous years. One, covering 4,600 m², is visible from the Roc d’Orsay; the second, covering 6,300 m², is visible from the golf club restaurant. The theme, however, remains the same: children and nature.

Entitled A portée de ciel, this diptych “forms part of a story that has been running for five years and brings the first chapter to a close. “For years, the children in my works have been learning from and drawing inspiration from nature, and now they are drawing it,” Saype told the Keystone-SDA news agency. According to him, the children enable us to tackle “very profound” subjects, particularly environmental issues, but “with gentleness and poetry”.

His murals, painted using a mixture of chalk and charcoal, are expected to remain visible until early August. This will, however, depend on the weather conditions. The mural at Roc d’Orsay, for example, has already suffered damage from last weekend’s storms.

To complement his outdoor murals, Saype is staging an exhibition at the Villars Palace for the first time this year, where around 40 of his works are on display.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.